Matthew 7:21-29, What Do You Do?, Dr. John B. Carpenter

Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 to 29 Hear the word of the Lord Not everyone who says to me

Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven But the one who does the will of my father who was in heaven on that day many will say to me

Lord Lord Did we not prophesy your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them. I never knew you Depart from me you workers of lawlessness

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock and Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them

Will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew

And beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it And when

Jesus finished these sayings the crowds were astonished at his teaching For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes

May the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word one of the things

I like about Thanksgiving besides the desserts and that makes the holiday different than all the others is that it is a celebration of what's been done and done recently most other holiday celebrations of Certain people or a particular

Historical event long in the past besides New Year's Day Which I think is partly a celebration that now the overly long

Christmas holiday is finally over and we get back to normal life Our other holidays are

Martin Luther King's birthday Washington's birthday Memorial Day for those who died fighting for America Juneteenth for the slaves and the end of slavery

Independence Day Labor Day for people who work which is almost everybody. I've never really gotten that holiday

Columbus Day obviously for Columbus and Veterans Day for the veterans who worked killed in combat and so made it here and All those are for certain people except for Independence Day Which is about of course a particular event the signing of the

Declaration of Independence, but Thanksgiving is different It was originally started to give thanks for a

For not a for specific things God had done recently in the lives of those who were celebrating it the

Puritans who started it didn't just give thanks to God kind Of abstractly for being good for being generous

They gave thanks for specific things that God had done in their lives first surviving famously surviving the first year in America now the myth kind of Thanksgiving is that at least the assumption many people come to is

Okay, the so -called pilgrims they made it through the first year and they celebrated both the Thanksgiving after their first harvest and then like the

Next year came around and they thought you know, that was good last year. Let's do it again. Let's make it an annual thing That's really not what happened.

Okay, what happened is they survived the first year they say God brought us through we gave us a good harvest We'll give thanks to God for that and then other later other good things happen to them and they gave thanks to God for those other things so whenever they saw

God's hand at work and a maybe a full harvest peace with the natives a Revival among the youth whatever good thing was happened then in response to that They then called a day of Thanksgiving kind of spontaneously.

Hey, this is a great thing that happened. Let's have a Thanksgiving Day Between 1632 and 1686 they called 61 days of Thanksgiving So averaging a little more than one a year of those 31

Thanksgivings were called for peace Giving thanks for peace for having good leaders for victory in a battle

Maybe better relations with England 20 were called for improved harvest and better health five were called for blessings on England God had blessed

England for whatever reason and peace in Europe and there were five Thanksgivings called just because life is good

The original Thanksgivings were then a spontaneous response to particular things

God had done and since they believed God was in control of all things Anything good that happened was a result of God doing it and so they should give thanks for it

The great early Puritan pastor John Cotton wrote quote besides the celebration of the

Lord's Day every week We sometimes upon extraordinary occasions either of notable judgments to set apart a day of humiliation or upon special mercies we set apart a day of Thanksgiving Thanksgiving encourages us to think about what's been done

Practically for us how much we've been given The food so we have a lot of it more to the gift

Thanks for the clothing the housing the family the warmth of the community and the benefits

We've gotten from others from family from friends who bring food and fellowship to the table Most of all we celebrate what

Jesus talked about earlier in this sermon that God has sent his sunshine and his rain

Upon us unjust sinners that he's given us all the good things we need and enjoy

Even though we being evil he said also in the sermon we don't deserve them

We celebrate specific things That have been done for us

Here the beautiful sermon them out with all its great words on the meek inheriting the earth loving our enemies forgiving not judging doing unto others this beautiful sermon ends with the insistence that what separates those who make it into God's kingdom and Those who get excluded is

What they do There are three verbs that tell us what we must do here first Simply do second bill and third be astonished first do

There's no replacement for doing What God said we see that throughout this sermon from the beginning?

It's been about a relationship with God that changes what we do. We don't shout you moron

And our brother if we're going to church to worship we first get reconciled with our fellow church member

We don't think singing hymns and listening to a sermon can cover up for the angry hateful things.

We've done to fellow believers We don't look on others with lust so we don't watch pornography

We don't divorce except on the ground of sexual immorality. We keep our word even when it hurts.

We're so reliable We don't have to be sworn under penalty of perjury to do what we say We just keep our word we don't take the law into our own hands to get even with those who hurt us

We pray for them instead. We know that God sees our secret giving and our here's our secret praying

So we give and we pray secretly we seek first that is above all the kingdom of God That is for God to rule in our lives.

And that means If we have to we lose money to seek

God's rule Our faith changes what we do

Now today some teach that all one must do to be saved. It's just acknowledge a few facts about Jesus just say

You believe he is Lord and they'll call this free grace and that's how that's that title

Sounds as good as last week's remember love wins very attractive. So, you know, it's free grace

That sounds very attractive to surely we believe grace is free and grace by definition is indeed

It's free. But what they mean is That not only is grace free to get which is true

But then once you've gotten it, it's free of You doing anything?

It's act free. It doesn't change what you do. You could be saved by grace

They say and still do all the old things you were doing still do the things the world us be no different I have money as your

God Because in free grace lets you get away with that Well, that's why they say your righteousness does not have to exceed the scribes and the

Pharisees. That is the religious people. Oh You can they say if you choose you can be strict.

You can be disciplined. You can deny yourself things you can do things But you don't have to you know, it's like signing up for some streaming services.

You can get the premium package You pay more for that more sacrifice you get more benefits

But you have to pay more or you just get the basic package, which is pretty cheap for some places It's free like YouTube.

It's free, right? You get it free. So you don't have to pay extra or here You don't have to do anything.

If you think the basic package is good enough I'll take the basic salvation deal many people think you know the one that keeps me out of hell without me having to do anything

I'll skip on the taking up the cross of the dying myself I'll just take the skipping hell part. But here the

Lord Jesus says as clearly as he possibly could That there's no such deal You can call him

Lord. Otherwise, you can confess him to be Lord and Still go to hell

In verse 21. He says not everyone who calls me Lord Lord Will enter the kingdom of heaven

You understand that you could believe Jesus is Lord call him Lord And go to hell be excluded now.

Remember there's only two places to go There's two roads and the prior passage is with it's a life or to destruction

So if you're not going to the kingdom of heaven to life where God rules you're going to that other place to destruction

But the free grace people say that as long as you Call Jesus Lord you say you believe the facts about Jesus He died for our sins that he rose from the dead

That he's Lord in some way not really Lord of you, but whatever If you do that, then you are they say saved

That's why they're constantly putting pressure on people especially kids to repeat the prayer

And then once someone does even a little kid who doesn't understand what he's doing They pronounce them saved and they assure them that they will enter the kingdom of heaven and they have nothing to fear now

Once they said the words From the final judgment, but here Jesus says not everyone who calls him

Lord is saved. You can even repeat the prayer. You can even repeat the title Lord for emphasis

Lord Lord But if he's not really your Lord, he's not ruling your life

If you're not doing what he says You're continuing sinful relationships.

You're seeking other things like money first. You're not hungering and thirsting for righteousness Then you will not enter the kingdom of heaven

You're still in the broad road to destruction. The one who gets in the kingdom of heaven is not the one who just says

Lord But the one who does the will of my father Who is in heaven now notice in the previous section about the wolf in sheep's clothing?

You know people were deceived by others The deceivers came and deceived them by false prophets here.

They are deceived by Themselves they have an assurance of salvation because they call him

Lord and They are so sure of their salvation. They walk boldly up to the judgment. I mean imagine this scene

There's Jesus on the judgment seat They walk boldly up to it and they're boasting of what they have done right to the

Lord Jesus himself Lord Lord Did we not prophesy in your name cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

Look at all that I have done for you and it's in your name It's in the name of Jesus and notice that they actually did those things

You know surely they're not gonna try to Lie to the judge himself on the judgment seat at the final judgment and Jesus here does not say back

No, you notice he doesn't say back. No. No you did You just made up the prophecies yourself You're at a radio receiver and your ear and your wife is transmitting to you stuff

So you can look like you were getting supernatural revelation about people the people you look like you were healing

Or just your own plants you put in the audience, you know, they weren't really crippled at all or anything like that.

No Frauds like that who do that kind of thing are probably going to try to run and hide when they see that Jesus is real

And he's the judge getting ready to pass sentence on them But these people Jesus is talking about apparently did all these things they prophesied that is they spoke for God They cast out demons.

They did mighty works Perhaps they taught Sunday school. They were preachers or missionaries

But they had no real relationship with Jesus that made them do the will of the

Father Who was in heaven? Notice though they weren't doing something a lot of people around us now given false assurance

They've been told free grace doesn't have to change how you live They've been fooled into thinking they're true believers and they'll get angry with anybody who questions that Those people often they don't do anything

They don't give they don't serve Often they won't even attend church or pray or read

Scripture They do nothing But here are these people calling

Jesus Lord Lord They did do things They prophesied maybe that's why preaching casting out demons they did miracles

So that they look like they were serving the Lord in powerful ways They had some knowledge of who he was they knew to call him

Lord They could prophesy they could preach they could teach they could write books. They could sing songs They could tell others about him speak for God.

They just didn't do the will of God They did the impressive the spectacular stuff

But not the will of the Father like Not insulting your brother Being reconciled with your church members like cutting off the porn and the immoral relationships like keeping your word

Even when it hurts being reliable so that we could depend on their promises even if they don't sign a contract or swear by heaven like Not take the law in your own hands to get even with those who hurt them

But but prayed for them instead like give and pray secretly like Seeking God's kingdom is more important than getting rich.

That's the will of the Father They may have been doing all kinds of eye -catching amazing things

But they were not doing what the father wanted Here at the conclusion to one of the most famous passages in the

Bible to serve on the Mount We see the grave danger of false assurance the same kind of false assurance that people have been giving out in America to anyone who says the right words for over a century now at the last judgment

Some people will be so sure that they are saved though They'll get a rude shock and despite that over the last century

Evangelicals have been handing out assurance of salvation to anyone who could just say I believe in Jesus Throw that assurance out there like candy and a

Christmas braid everybody gets assurance you just say that word So little children manipulated into say go repeat after me prayer to people who suddenly feel an emotional rush and come forward

You know when the organ softly playing just as I am people are coming and actually counselors coming forward to pride the well

Looks like there's a lot of people responding they want to be part of that and They're then given assurance of salvation and the fruit of that is that there are multitudes of people many of them around us in this

Culture who are now harder to reach with the gospel than they would have been otherwise

Because now they think they're saved already Encounter people like this people have no interest in the things of God.

They don't read the word. They don't go to church They have no interest in it But they because they said some prayer or maybe got baptized when they were a little kid

They think they taken care of all that We've taught some of them that at the last judgment they can come and they can say

Lord Lord Did I not say the prayer and get baptized in your name But they'll hear the same response first I Never knew you

That is the Lord Jesus speaking to people deceived by false assurance

We usually think well, we kind of think well, that means they the people they didn't know

Jesus in their hearts. They didn't have a real knowledge of him and that's that's true

But that's really not what Jesus is saying here notice he doesn't say yeah, you did all those things but you never knew me

No, he says I never knew you Be precise. That's what Jesus declares.

He literally the word there Jesus confesses in Greek It's homo logio means to confess like we confess the

Nicene Creed here. Jesus confesses To a truth. There's a truth you confess it to be true.

This truth is I never knew you And Jesus confesses it certainly he knew about them

Right. He is God. He's the second person of the Trinity. He even knew who they were He knows factually about these people.

He knows that they are workers of lawlessness. He can accurately describe them But he never had a relationship with them that's what he means by no he never chose to be related to them

Notice their salvation at the end depends not on their knowing Jesus like many Christians put it today. You know, do you know

Jesus? But it depends their salvation depends on Jesus knowing them

The initiative and the relationship is with Jesus Jesus has to know to choose them

But because Jesus did not know them They'll be told to depart After Jesus confession.

I never knew you comes his command depart from me

Depart it's the imperative. It's the order go away withdraw

Get out It's what CS Lewis called the great divorce that ultimate eternal separation

People who were certain that they were God's people So certain they could they could boldly come up to Jesus on the judgment seat

Boasting of what they've done for him in his name. They say that three times in your name are told leave

Be gone forever you workers of lawlessness

Because they even with their many mighty works even with their religion. They're confessing

Jesus your Lord in your name and all that they're really workers of lawlessness

You workers of lawlessness is the description of who they are now they did things

They were workers just Labor Day would be for them, too They were workers of something but it was of lawlessness and Greek is the word anomia

The ah means like no or un and anomia law no law.

They were workers of no law that is they lived is that there was Nothing they had to submit to the laws no rules.

No Lord. They had no restraint and what they did They were lawless. They were going their own way as they felt best

Unrestricted and guided down the broad road to destruction Just yesterday a silly little comparison

But just yesterday by to go to this apartment complex in Gainesville and the church van and pick up kids

Pick up small kids. Everyone knows this program is for small kids gonna be under 13 or under Long comes a look a little group of Obviously teenagers this one guy starting to get on has facial hair ask him.

How old are you? He says 10 Okay, he's not 10 He's probably about 5 10 with a growing mustache

He lied He we know we like because they want to cut they want him and his friends want to come here and they want to take

It over and just play ball. They don't care about the law. The law is Saturday afternoon.

This is a Children's program, but they think they can take it over right if we leave it up to teenagers lawlessness

We will have no children's ministry. That's the way it is. Now these people particularly here chose the way of religion

Notice that we often think well lawlessness mates. Oh, that just means they're getting high. They're doing drugs. They're getting drunk

They're promiscuous and all that but that's one way to be lawless. Sure Another way is you could be lawless and still be religious.

That's what these people were They thought they had so much to be proud of right before the judge of the universe before Jesus himself

That they hadn't chosen to be drunk. They hadn't chosen to be promiscuous They hadn't chosen to be a criminal, but the reality is that they're still doing their own thing.

They had no Lord or Law in their life Those who don't do

God's will They do something else They'll do their own will They'll wake up every morning thinking not what's the father's will for me today?

But what do I want to do? Today now for some that may be the drugs and the getting drunk and the promiscuity all that for others.

It may be religion Don't think I'll go prophesy Preach today

I get looked up to I get a steam I get to be seen as somebody in the community because I prophesy

I preach but they're doing it because That's what they want to do Not because they're seeking first the father's kingdom.

The result is at the end for those who do not do the father's will Expulsion Depart from me

What do you do? Second verse 24

You build What are you supposed to do if you're on the narrow road to life? Well, you build your life on the teaching of Jesus in verse 21

And it was not everyone who says Lord Lord here verse 24.

It's everyone Who hears these words of mine? So this is a universal law

Everyone who hears these words of mine Coming to the great finish on the sermon amount the previous people had problems with the difference between their confession of Jesus they said he was

Lord and Jesus is confession of them as lawless Here in verses 24 to 27.

We see that some people have a problem between their hearing and their doing

All the people here have heard the word This is the very conclusion of the sermon They've heard it now

Are they gonna do it or not? Well, some do and some don't whether they do it

Is what separates the two kinds of people? Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock that is the doing of Jesus's words

Not just the saying you believe them not just listening to them or Studying them or even memorizing them, but the actual performance of them is the building on the rock

I know someone who committed to it was trying hard to memorize the entire several amount. I guess it's a good goal

But he didn't keep his promises You know, it's something Jesus addressed directly in the sermon them out.

You should be so faithful so reliable You don't have to raise your hand and swear sign your name on the contract.

You just say you're gonna do something you do it He could sign his name to something and still not do it

But he was trying to memorize it like that would be some of some advantage No, that's not what Jesus is talking about.

Are you will you do it a Wise man does it because he knows whether he likes it or not.

One day a storm is coming and He's willing to do the hard work of building on a rock now building on a rock requires excavation drilling

Pickaxes, especially in those days imagine you don't have electric drills sledgehammers pile driving hard labor lots of time higher costs all the materials the engineering however

Despite these difficulties a wise man sees the effort and the cost are worthwhile as a rock foundation provides far better strength and durability a sand base

What's easy That's cheap. It's easy to dig in sand. All you need is a shovel

Like you get a kid's plastic shovel and dig in sand You can throw up house easily on sand, but you ever seen a video of a house on the

Outer Banks Maybe during a hurricane or maybe just after some time of erosion do the tides What happens to that?

just collapse The house on the rock is the one built on the hard work of doing

What Jesus taught here being reconciled? Cutting off the porn and the immorality keeping your word not being vengeful

Giving and praying secretly seeking God's kingdom first But once you've laid the foundation for your life, it provides stability

It doesn't change with the fashions or or with your moods and so you don't change you stay fastened on him

You're solid and immovable by the winds They may howl

The floods may rise hard times may come death or disappointment in the family problems

But if you're anchored in what Jesus taught here you can withstand adversity

Jesus says in verse 25 It that's the life built on the rock did not fall because it had been founded on the rock the rock of doing

What he said But if your life is built on the sandy foundation of lawlessness kind of what I feel like doing wake up today

I feel like doing this or that it's built like that Doing your own thing chasing dollars or thrills

Whatever you feel like doing at any given time then it's unstable. It's vulnerable to collapse in verse 27.

The rain falls The floods rise the winds blow and beat against that house and it falls

Because it was not founded on the rock of doing what Jesus said Jesus says great

Was the fall of it you ever seen those videos houses collapsing because they're on the beach

I took a long time to build it even on the sand take some effort and then just crush collapse in a second

Great Falls Here are the comparisons of houses Jesus by referring to thinking of houses in Israel and in the desert

Maybe near a dry creek bed, which most of the year there's nothing in it So it looks like a fine place then when a storm would come the flash flood will rise

The house founded on the rock would stand But those built on the sand

Would be undermined by the flood and the whole thing would come crashing down Those are the ones

Jesus says who heard his word and did not do it they did their own thing They were told it didn't matter how they built their lives because salvation depended upon free grace they built where they thought best where they were most comfortable with what was most fashionable at the time and There were plenty of people around them that told them that was fine

They could get away with that as long as they're sincere they can build any way they want. They'll be fine They had assurance.

So all those warnings of what will happen When the storm comes, ah, that's just so much

Alarmism scare tactics. That's an old -fashioned hellfire and brimstone preaching. No one believes that anymore

We sophisticated people know better than that. There's no real danger Live your best life now, you know the guy's smiling with a quaffed hair says that sounds good beeping

Notice that the storm comes in both lives Both the one built on the rock and the one had plunked down a house on the sand

They both Go through storms some false teachers today Will say will teach that if you just say the right words you confess the right confession and send them the course the right money

That's important You'll be spared trials You'll be free of trials.

Don't worry about any storms in your life. Just send me my money But both the wise and the foolish here are

Hit by the storm Then the storm exposes their foundation

All will get hit by storms All foundations will be exposed

Collapse is coming if you don't build on his teaching

And we have many people who think well all the warnings of danger just so much Alarmism, it's kind of old -fashioned.

We know better than I now people think that way you're like chicken little saying the sky is falling We matured past that kind of thing besides free grace will cover for them

They think free grace is our get out of the storm free card Our insurance policy that will be bailed out of the storm

Even we don't build our lives on what Jesus said But if we built at the wrong place with the wrong foundation, the flood is gonna wipe it away

No matter how sincere we were no matter how many repeat after me prayers We prayed it gave us false assurance if we hear and we don't do

We're in unavoidable trouble and great will be our fall that fall is the same as the expulsion

Right four times Jesus in the sermon This is four different images of the two different ways and of judgment.

One is the fall of the house of those who build on sand Another is the expulsion depart from me

I never knew you in verse 23 The same as the bad trees being cut down and thrown into the fire in verse 19

The same as the wide gate and the easy road that leads to destruction in verse 13. Yes, it's grace

That keeps us off that wide road to destruction It's grace that enables us to go the narrow road grace that keeps us from being bad tree

They'll be thrown into the fire. It's grace that keeps us from being ordered to depart and Grace that enables us to build on the rock

But if we receive grace We will do what

Jesus said we will do that hard work of building on the rock

Grace will have that effect in us to build on that rock and the rock

It's Christ What do you do? finally you

Be astonished the final lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus leaves us

Astonished in those last two verses when Jesus finished these sayings it is the Sermon on the Mount the crowds

That's the onlookers we're not so sure what to make of this Jesus they heard a lot about him now they're going to see him himself

This is probably not referring to his disciples but to these uncommitted spectators

Were astonished at his teaching as they were in stunned Amazement. This is not just kind of the typical religious lecture that maybe they were used to from their from their rabbis

For he was teaching them as one who had authority over and over again he had said but I say to you and Not as the scribes

He wasn't saying, you know rabbi so -and -so said this but rabbi That this said this other thing like modern

Christian scholars, you know quoting the other scholar and another scholar Showing that they've done the reading footnoting comparing opinions

Jesus spoke not merely as a learned man but as one who had the authority to declare something true

I Say to you He is here not just commentating giving an opinion of what he thinks is the best way to live if we feel like it or You know, it's not like this is what

I think Moses meant by that This is my interpretation No, everyone who hears these words of mine

And does them back in verse 24 everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them in verse 26

He is saying authoritatively that he is the Lord upon whom you must build your life My words these words of mine as if he were

God because he is You're doing are not doing these words of mine

Determines whether you are expelled or your life collapses or you are accepted and your life stands

You now good Protestant if you're thinking this through wait, you might think you might object wait,

I'm saved by faith alone Sure, that's true. We are saved by faith alone

But faith it saves is never alone. It always determines

What you do if you have true saving faith you will do what

Jesus says He also astonished the crowds by what he implied about himself He are the crowds because he insisted that he was the

Lord Whom they will come to on the judgment day verse 22 and 23 Jesus puts himself on the judgment seat

He's the one doing the judging on judgment day because he is God and he is the one who even now they must listen to And follow here

Jesus at the end far from being just another rabbi another scholar giving his opinion He's the one with authority whose final verdict

Determines where people go for eternity. Jesus is saying I am the one you have to answer to How do you avoid the broad easy road to destruction?

Being cut down and thrown into the fire being told away from me the great divorce your life collapsing

You do his word There's no getting away from that Someone selling the free grace message that we can not do that.

We can ignore his word. We can be lawless We can do our own thing as long as we just mouth the words

Jesus is Lord. We'll be alright Nothing to worry about they say people selling that message are selling the plans on how to build a house on Sand, what do you do?

You must do what he said But you'll only do What he said if you stand in awe of him if you're astonished by him

You're amazed that even though you you know it to your heart now, even though you being evil

He knows you Not just about you, but that he's chosen to be in a relationship with you and in your amazement

You do what he said He feeds the birds and you're worth much more than birds.

He closed the flowers better than Solomon He sends you every good gift every breath

Every heartbeat every Sunbeam you need or every drop of rain to grow your food

You're so astonished and all his greatness and all his goodness to you